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could be onto something there.’ Phil waved his glass. ‘I’m sorry, Kaz.’ His voice softened. ‘I know that you want to believe, but here we have a man with a dubious past, telling you a story that is, quite frankly, too incredible to be true. That your ex-husband staged some sort of conspiracy, to steal your daughter?’
    ‘Jeff saw his chance and took it. He identified this other child as Jamie.’ Kaz had been thinking about it. She’d thought of nothing else for forty-eight hours. Every angle, every possibility. She had no doubt that Jeff was capable of it. He’d take any kind of chance, when he wanted the outcome enough. Even marrying a woman he didn’t love. Surely there was something, at the beginning? Huh! You don’t want to think you were that much of a fool. If he’d already been planning to disappear with Jamie, this had been a gift. It really comes down to one thing – do you believe Devlin? Do you want so desperately to believe that you’re falling into whatever trap he’s set?
    ‘Have you asked the American authorities at the crash site? The Sheriff or whoever?’
    ‘I’m checking whether there was more than one accident,’ Phil agreed cautiously. ‘And I’m looking into Jeff’s whereabouts. That would be the best thing. Get in touch with him, and you could clear the whole thing up.’
    ‘Yes,’ Kaz agreed reluctantly. Or you could just go for the jugular and chop off the bastard’s balls. With blunt scissors.
    ‘Patience, love.’ Phil grinned at her. Not so daft that he doesn’t realise what you’re thinking. Didn’t get that high in the police force just on a smile. Plus he’s known you all your life.
    ‘I’ll do what I can,’ Phil continued. ‘But I think you need to accept that you had an encounter with a particularly nasty con man. If he gets in touch again, you call me immediately.’ He looked at his watch. ‘I ought to be going. You want a lift, Kaz?’
    ‘No, thanks, I’ll catch a cab later.’
    Kaz stared moodily into her wine as her mother escorted her brother to the door. She hadn’t forgotten her initial reaction to Devlin. It hadn’t been that far away from Phil’s. Even now, her uncle might be right. But now you want to believe Devlin.
    ‘He suggested you should see someone.’ When Suzanne came back she topped up their glasses.
    ‘A shrink?’ Kaz grimaced. ‘I’ve done all that, Mum, bereavement counselling, therapy. I’m still seeing Deborah regularly. This isn’t in my mind and I didn’t go looking for it.’ She dug her hands into her hair and tugged. ‘I’m bloody glad you were in the house when Devlin turned up, or everyone would think I was barking. I might think I was barking. We didn’t invent him, did we?’
    ‘No – but I suppose we might have allowed ourselves to be preyed upon.’
    ‘But why?’ It always came back to that. She’d looked at it from every direction. She simply couldn’t see the angle. If there was one, it was too deep for her. ‘If Devlin had tried to get us to employ him, offered to introduce us to a medium, asked for money for his story?’ she demanded, exasperation roughening her voice. ‘He didn’t do any of that. He came to tell us how Jamie died. The rest was an accident. He was as shocked as we were.’
    ‘I believe that too,’ Suzanne confirmed quietly.
    ‘Oh, Mum.’ With the tightness in her chest threatening to choke her, Kaz reached out and gathered her mother into her arms. ‘Thanks.’
    ‘You never have to thank me. Never. ’ Suzanne was vehement as she sat back. ‘But what are we going to do?’
    ‘I don’t know,’ Kaz admitted. ‘Phil isn’t going to do anything more, is he? Despite what he said about following leads?’
    Suzanne sighed, mouth working as she made up her mind. ‘Possibly not,’ she said at last. ‘He has got a lot on with this latest case and he’s done his best, as he sees it, by warning you off. I have to say it. Mr Devlin does sound a bit   …